Infinite Impossibilities
Part 4
Raziel sat for a long time, until well after nightfall turned the clearing where the pillars of Nosgoth stood into a surreal landscape full of shadows. He sat upon the chipped remnants of the slab to which he had been bound, head bowed, arms resting on his thighs. The spirit sword twisted and flowed upon his lower right arm, and it awakened a deep anger in Raziel. As much as he wanted to rend this thing from him, cast it away and be free of it, he knew that it was now as much a part of him as any limb. He stretched his arm out in front of him and clenched his fist experimentally. The Soul Reaver responded by flaring up slightly, glowing brightly red. He spread his claws and allowed the spirit blade to flow out from his palm, a shadow of the material blade, twisted and translucent.
As Raziel sat, he contemplated everything that Kain had said to him. While he had been fighting with his sire, he had not stopped to take note of anything that had been said, so infused with blinding anger as he had been at the time. Now he reflected upon the events that had taken place recently.
Brought on by Kain's words, Raziel began to doubt the words of the voice once more, and suspicion arose in his mind. Once more he strained his mind to show him the correct memories. Kain had told him not to let his mind be dominated, and Raziel knew that, hard as it would be, he would have to find the truth within himself.
A memory surfaced:
Raziel entered the throne room with his characteristic long stride, and knelt before his sire and his brothers, inclining his head. Kain raised an eyebrow and stood, motioning for Raziel to follow suit. Raziel stood, and encouraged by his sire, flared his wings. Kain's expression was intense and yet unreadable as he slowly circled around his first-born lieutenant, touching the wings slightly with his claws, making Raziel flinch instinctively. Raziel felt the cold claws rake across the leathery surface of his wings, and he knew before that it would happen even before Kain brought his claws down and tore the bones from Raziel's body, leaving him broken and bloody on the floor.
Raziel screwed his eyes shut, bringing his hands to cover his face. He stood and threw his head back, giving vent with a harsh cry.
"Why have you done this to me!" He shouted to the voice, not knowing if the voice could hear him, let alone know what had happened. He spun around and aimed a kick at the stone block, shattering it completely, the pieces skittering across the stone platform. When he turned around, the figure was standing some distance ahead of him, wreathed in shadow, immovable as a mountain. Raziel growled.
"You have betrayed me, you did not speak the truth of what happened to me." He said calmly. The figure remained still, but it somehow appeared to be closer. Raziel realised that he had never noticed features in that blank face, nor could he see limbs individually. The figure appeared to be no more real than a humanoid statue crafted of shiny black obsidian.
"Raziel, you betray yourself. You still cling to the story you crafted in your insanity and then lovingly drew around you to block out all memory of your misdeeds." The voice intoned from the figure. Raziel clenched his fist, the Soul Reaver blazing into bright fire, trailing tails of bright red light as Raziel moved his hand in a wide gesture.
"It is you who has crafted a story for my benefit!" Raziel roared. The figure chuckled.
"You are wasting your time, Raziel. Let go of these false dreams and concentrate on your task, before its too late. Even now, Kain is in reprieve in the chamber of my hated other half. Do not waste this opportunity, my Soul Reaver; for this is the window of opportunity to right the course history is taking. Dispose of your sire, and of my tampering other half, before he upsets the balance so deeply against our favour that we may no longer right this wrong."
Raziel hesitated, confusion rearing its head in his mind. Who should he believe? As he stood defensively, another memory seemed to loom large in his mind, seemingly from out of nowhere.
Raziel reclined on his throne in the stronghold of the Razielim, one leg nonchalantly bent over the arm of the stone chair. In his right hand he held a goblet from which he was drinking dark blood. Before him lay the crumpled body of a Razielim Vampire, blood pooling underneath it. A voice echoed in the large room.
"Raziel, thou hast not done all I have asked of ye." The voice was incredibly loud, and seemed to come from the room itself. Raziel, seated on his stone throne, assumed a bored expression and toyed with the blood in his goblet, tipping it and letting it run up the sides.
"I have given unto thee powers the like of which ye could not comprehend. However, thou hast not yet repaid me." The voice said patiently. Raziel laughed loudly.
"Begone, demon, I have no further use for you." He said softly, standing up and tossing the goblet to one side, where it shattered on the floor, leaving an almost black bloodstain spattered across the wall. With that, Raziel turned to walk out of the room.
"Nay, Raziel, thou shalt not betray me like this. Though I cannot remove these powers I have delivered unto thee, I shall make it so thou art unable to use them!" The voice screeched, stopping Raziel in his tracks. He turned to face the room again, but before he had made more than a half-turn, insanity struck him. He clutched at his head, dropping to his knees on the ground, shrieking loudly. He wasn't even aware of Kain's arrival, nor of the fledglings that carried him bodily to the pillars and attached the shackles he would wear for eons.
Raziel gaped, staring at the figure in incomprehension. The memory was so vivid that all doubt had been erased from his mind, and he dropped the defensive stance he had been taking against the figure.
"Ahh. I see you are coming to your senses." The voice said softly. Then the figure was gone, between the space of one thought and the next, and Raziel was left alone.
He did not stop to ponder further on these memories. There was no longer any doubt left in his mind that Kain was the one lying to him, the one trying to plant ideas in his mind. Raziel realised that he would have to steel himself against Kain's comments when next they met. He turned around and started walking in a long stride towards the stronghold.
In front of the gates, Raziel encountered one of the Kindred guards. They blocked the gateway, and politely asked him to identify himself and state his business. Without slowing his stride, Raziel cut them down with the Soul Reaver and continued his relentless march towards Kain's throne room.
When he reached the room in which he had stood at Kain's right hand so many times in the past, he found the place deserted, it looked as if no one had used this particular room in many years. Inhaling deeply, Raziel wondered where to look for his sire. In a sudden flash of inspiration, he knew where to go. Seeing that the doors had been bolted, Raziel dug his claws into one of the buttresses, and began to climb up to the first floor gallery. He glanced down through a pane-less window to the courtyard below, and finding it deserted, he dropped silently into it.
The doors to the temple were as old as the temple itself, and they put up an audible protest when Raziel shouldered them open. The hallways were musty and unlit, but the Soul Reaver coiled around Raziel's arm emitted enough soft red light to guide his way.
A dim blue light spilled from the small gap between a door and its frame, and Raziel instinctively entered, pushing the heavy stone door open with one hand. The sight that met him made him draw back slightly, but he recovered himself and strode into the large room, letting the door shut behind him.
Kain turned and met his first-born's gaze, but said nothing as Raziel padded softly towards the centre of the room.
"Welcome, Raziel the Fallen." The elder god's voice intoned.